It is well known that many dangerous communicable diseases are spread through contacting the body fluids of an infected person. Needlestick injuries are accordingly of considerable concern to those involved in the treatment and care of people who may be infected with such diseases. Such diseases, which are in some cases life threatening, and in many cases expensive to treat, can be spread to healthcare personnel through accidental injuries occurring in the course of handling contaminated sharps.
Blood must be collected from individuals for many reasons, for example for diagnosis or monitoring of a medical condition, administration of certain drugs, or removal of blood for a specific reason. A significant number of needlestick injuries occur during the handling of blood collection devices. Some of these injuries may occur during use of the blood collection device, and some may occur after the device has been used but before the needle of the device has been rendered innocuous, for example by capping the needle.
Thus, there is a desire to provide blood collection devices that can minimize a risk of needlestick injury occurring. Retracting a needle of the blood collection device inside the device after use is one way to minimize the risk of a needlestick injury occurring.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related thereto are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.